Charles Laughton plays Kidd, a merchant captain who cons the King of England (Henry Daniell) into allowing him to take to the sea to recover a lost treasure and escort a ship back to London. An old fellow conspirator who he thought dead (John Carradine) and a mysterious young man (Randolph Scott) manage to get on board and cause problems for Kidd.
Reviewer:
elemental_hijkink
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favoritefavoritefavoritefavoritefavorite -
June 21, 2023 Subject:
A+
lots of laughs
Reviewer:
Excelsior1
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favoritefavoritefavoritefavoritefavorite -
December 16, 2022 Subject:
A fun pirate adventure!
One of my favourite films... Wonderful performances by Laughton and Carradine, they have some great scenes together! Randolph Scott, not so much: this
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was an unconvincing role for him to say the least lol. Although including a few accurate details, and hinting only slightly at the politics behind Kidd's career, it is for the most part completely un-historical. But fun!
Reviewer:
barticle
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favoritefavoritefavoritefavorite -
May 19, 2013 Subject:
Great B
Definitely a great B movie. In 1945 the family would gladly have paid a quarter each to see this in a theater or drive-in. Laughton is his over-the-top
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best. Just don't expect much historical accuracy. (I wonder where Kidd found a fresh pineapple for his dinner table on the ship.) Only wish this had been filmed in color.
Reviewer:
Essayist
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favoritefavoritefavoritefavoritefavorite -
November 9, 2011 Subject:
Excellent
That is what one calls a damn good film. Excellent story with the excellent Charles Laughton, what more could you want. The reproduction is quite good
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for the age of the film but one hopes someone will restore it to its original quality one day. Well worth watching, downloading and treasuring as a true classic.
Reviewer:
accalaurie49
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favoritefavoritefavoritefavoritefavorite -
April 11, 2011 Subject:
sound
Fascinating movie with the great Charles Laughton. He is as ruthless and ambitious villain. John Carradine and the rest of the cast, including Randolph
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Scott in his only (?) swashbuckling role, give also wonderful performances. There is no sound problem if you use VLC player. I know of some films in the IA that have sound with VLC player and no sound with windows media player, so this might be just a codec problem.
Reviewer:
allenprice33
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April 11, 2011 Subject:
Unfortunate
I really wanted to see this movie again. Charles Laughton is one of my favorite actors. I previewed the movie on this website and it seemed fine. But when
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I downloaded the movie in avi format, it had no sound. This is unfortunate.
This is one of my favorite mediocre movies. The production values are relatively skimpy for a Hollywood pirate adventure. The acting by most of its reliable
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cast if not inspired is adequate. The major weakness is a silly plot that only sniffs at historical accuracy. What makes this movie a must see is Charles Laughton’s wonderfully over-the-top performance as the infamous Captain William Kidd. Laughton gives carefully constrained, bravura dramatic performances in films like “Rembrandt” and “Advise and Consent." This time he seems to be saying, “This one isn’t going to be up for any awards. Here’s my chance to have some fun,” And so he does. You can tell by the look on his face and the twinkle in his eye that he’s having a hell of a good time - and so are we just watching him. Considering this movie’s shortcomings, I'm stretching a bit to give it four stars. In any event, it gets five stars in my heart. FOOTNOTE: A beautiful print of the highly recommended "Rembrandt" is available here at IA.
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